Leiter Has Strong Advice for Pitchers

Nancy Gay, Chronicle Staff Writer

Published 4:00 am, Thursday, March 28, 1996

1996-03-28 04:00:00 PDT Scottsdale, Ariz. -- T heir final Arizona spring game concluded yesterday in a swift, yet sadly routine 4-3 loss to the Colorado Rockies before 8,905 at Scottsdale Stadium, and the Giants (11-19) quickly scarfed down a final helping of Don and Charlie's ribs before their charter scooted out of Phoenix.

Mark Leiter, who pitched in his first game since last Friday after being kicked in the gut by the flu, shook off a three-run first inning -- including a two-run homer by Andres Galarraga -- and settled down to strike out six and walk none in six innings. And he had some strong parting words for anyone, including his fellow pitchers, who buys into the popular opinion that the Giants' staff is hopelessly inexperienced and thus inept.

"Not that you guys are completely wrong about what you're saying, but it just gets tiresome," said Leiter, who will start Opening Day (Monday) against the World Series champion Braves in Atlanta. "These guys just need to go out there and give it everything they have. Don't go into a game and . . . like me in the first inning. I came in here and I totally freaked out because I knew I had better stuff than that. That shouldn't have happened. I shouldn't have hung that damn slider (to Galarraga) like that.

"I don't want to get lit up and come back and know I made mistakes I shouldn't have made. If you're going to get beat, get beat giving it everything you have. That's all the pitchers on this staff have to do. Just go out, and if everybody wants to say we're horse --, well, let's give it 100 percent. Then if we're horse --, we're horse --.

"Don't sit by your locker and say, 'You know, I made 15 mistakes today and they capitalized on 10 of them,' and then we're just proving everybody right, that we can't pitch."

Right-hander William VanLandingham (1-0, 3.24 ERA) is scheduled to start tonight against A's right-hander Dave Telgeheder (1-1). Rookie Osvaldo Fernandez will stay behind in Scottsdale to pitch in a minor-league game at Indian School Park on Sunday. He'll join the team in Atlanta on Monday, and his major-league debut will be against the Marlins in Florida on April 5.

"I don't know if this is going to give us that big a (morale) boost, but it's certainly not going to be a downer like the last (vote) was," he said, "because we didn't know where we were going to go, nobody knew anything. Plus it was in the middle of the season and it was a big distraction. Nobody wanted to talk about if we were winning or losing. They just wanted to talk about the stadium issue."

ELSEWHERE: After sitting out the final two spring games because of a swollen, sprained left thumb, shortstop Shawon Dunston vowed to be ready for tomorrow's Bay Bridge Series game. . . . Baker called rookie pitcher Steve Bourgeois, who retired three consecutive batters in the seventh, the "surprise you're looking for every spring." . . . Giants union representative Mark Dewey said his friend and former teammate Mark Leonard, who was released yesterday despite being sidelined by a bulging disc in his back, has a good case for appeal to get his full $160,000 salary. . . . The Giants drew 122,040 in 16 dates this spring at Scottsdale Stadium.